When your goal is to lose fat, the most important aspect is diet, not cardio

Typical conversation between me and a friend/acquaintance/bank teller (seriously, this happens):

Person: I want to lose weight. What type of cardio should I do? HIIT? steady state cardio? Metabolic circuits? Everything I read online is so confusing.

Me: What does your diet look like?

Person: It is good. What type of cardio?

Me: How many calories are you consuming in a day?

Person: [Elaborate explanation that essentially never answers the question I asked. Usually involving something about mostly eating “healthy” or “clean” and weekends off.]

Me: Well…It is great to eat nutrient dense foods, but if you want to lose body fat you still have to account for HOW MUCH food you eat. And taking weekends “off” could totally be erasing any deficit that you might be creating during the week. I would suggest that you start by figuring out how much you’re eating and adjusting your diet first.

Person: That sounds cool, but I’m not into tracking my intake. So what type of cardio should I do instead?

Me: *roundhouse kicking myself in the face*

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In all seriousness though, the hierarchy of importance for fat loss is as follows:

1) Diet
.
.
4) Weights
5) Cardio

If your diet isn’t in line first, cardio is not going to bring about the changes you’re looking for.